The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1887-02-09
KILDA'S DISCOVERY.
BY NATHAN ID. URNER.

In the guileless love and hope of hei
youthful heart, Hilda DeloIme had mag
ined that her marriage had been attended
by exceptional auspices of happy and un-
clouded future; but her honeymoon hao
hardly begun TO wane III the beautiful an
cestral seaside home to which her lover
husband, Archibald Delorme, had borne
her directly after the ceremony that had
made them one, before her breast grew
troubled with strange doubts and fears.
She gradually became conscious OF his
being frequently preoccupied with other
thoughts than those pertaining to herself
an expression of melancholy and reserve
grew blended with the gentle looks that he
so often fastened upon her face; he was
subject to sudden mutterings and titfu
starts when he deemed himself unobserved
and there were other indications of a secret
trouble preying on his mind, to which al
his reservations TO the contrary, when she
taxed him with the change, We're insufficient
to blind her. And at last, one day, when
her waiting maid, in answer to a que
~ as to the whereabouts of hel
master, replied carelessly that she
had seen him walking on the
cliffs with a strange woman, to all appear
ances a sort of mendicant, Hilda's hear
gave great, painful leap, and she felt 9
sickening, suspicious sensation such as Is
only known to those whose jealousy is IL
proportion with their love.
II couldn't see who or what the strange
woman was, ma'am," was all the mental
could say, in answer to the eager but care
fully yelled inquiries with which her young
mistress at once began to follow up this
bit of information. Il was coming VI
from the fishing village, and their backs
were turned toward me as | saw then
strolling along the edge of the cliffs.
only noticed that the woman with Mr.. De-
lorme appeared to be tall and shapely. She
also seemed to be we'll dressed, and
marked something beseeching like In hel
gestures, which made me think she must
be begging aims. But my master seemed
10 be sternly refusing all her appeals. He
was shaking his head and his walking
stick at the same time, as the beech trees
shut EN- out from view"
Hilda finally forbore any further ques-
tioning, but the poison Of distrust had by
this time unequivocally entered her soul.
What could it mean? Was it an affair with
some other woman that had caused the
slight but still perceptible change in hel
husbands manner toward herself? The
very supposition was torture.
He entered the house not long after
ward. but she cloaked the feelings that
were depressing her, and set herself to
watching him narrowly. 1t seemed TO hel
that he betrayed even more preoccupation
and nervousness than she had yet remarked
in him, though he abated nothing of the
courtly kindliness with which he had evel
greeted her; and finally, when he pleaded a
pressing business affair at the neighboring
city of Halifax as an excuse for not partak-
ing of the accustomed luncheon with her,
her jealous apprehersions grew apace.
You've been out walking ever since
breakfast, Archy," said she, petulantly
Cant you remain with ME now?"
"You must know that nothing would
please me better, Hilda, darling" he re-
piled, kissing her; "but the affi.ir that sum-
mons me TO the CITY is as pressing as 1t is
unpleasant. / may sometime tell you about
it, he added, with much gravity; "but at
present it would only distress you need
lessly. will not keep you waiting dinner,
be sure"
She made no further effort to detain
him. as he kissed her again, an6, resuming
mis- hat and cane which he had but momen-
tarily cast aside, passed out of the charming
summer drawing room in which they had
been speaking together. A moment later he
moved along the graveled walk outside, with
his bowed head still bare, and listlessly
swinging his hat and cane in one hand,
while the other was pensively thrust in the
bosom of his overcoat.
Hilda felt miserably. She looked eagerly
after him through the great bow window,
with her breast heaving and falling pain
fully, and one jeweled hand clenched
tightly at her fair white throat, as though
TO still its bitter and rebellious throbbings.
there's mystery here-you are keeping
a secre. from me, Archibald Delorme, she
muttered between her teeth; sand / musr
find il out, or sleep no morel"
She threw herself into a fauteuil, rested
her chin upon her hand, and, while beating
a tattoo upon the rich carpet with her pretty
foot, began to recall the circumstances OF
her marriage, in whose rosy retrospect she
certainly failed to find any premonition:
of the doubts and suspicious that had grown
so distressing. She had first made hel
husbands acquaintance in her own refined
and happy home in England. He wai
known TO be ell-born, as well as rich; he
parents had welcomed his suit for he
hand; and, though he had always main
tanned n certain reticence concerning hi
rpast life, he had borne an exalted reputa.
ton among his select and rather marrow
circle of friends, and lastly, he had wooe'
her with such manly earnestness and deli
-cacy as TO speedily win the overlooking AM
undivided affection of her youthful heart
in spite of the difference in their ages, TO
he was fully twenty years her senior.
Then, directly after their marriage, h
had brought her over seas to this fine oil
Acadian home, with its superb grounds, ii
romantic sea views, its numerous servants
and its noble appointments, which he ha
inherited from grand-u uncle on his moth
er's side but a short time previous to hi
union with her. Here, mistress of all SIN
surveyed, she had lived like happy littl
queen. with her slightest wish as Law
petied and admired by the best people G
the neighborhood one of the acknowl